Opinion

While Jehovah’s Witnesses have chosen to temporarily suspend their door-to-door ministry due to the pandemic, their activity was almost permanently banned by one U.S. village in the late 1990s — that is until the United States Supreme Court stepped in with a historic 8-1 decision on June 17, 2002, declaring the local ordinance unconstitutional.

There’s more to a Steller’s Jay than we know. My pet Jay, Huckleberry, has demonstrated over the past two days, two distinct emotions I didn’t know he, or any bird had.

Mark Twain once penned a book, Letters from the Earth, in which an archangel makes sarcastic remarks about the Creator and gets banished into space, where he flaps around until it occurs to him to push on and hunt up the Earth to see how the Human-Race experiment is coming along.

Manufacturing and logistical companies are growing around the state, and Carson City and Douglas County are seeing significant job increases in these sectors.

Part of the reason for the increase is a tax environment that is encouraging companies to move to Nevada, especially northern Nevada. It is critical that we maintain that tax-friendly environment so our region can continue to create more jobs.

Editor's Note: The following marks a milestone for columnist McAvoy Lane. This is his 1,500th Pine Nuts column. McAvoy's musings first began at the now shuttered North Lake Tahoe Bonanza. The column was rescued by the Sierra Sun, Calaveras Enterprise, Comstock Chronicle and Carson Now. McAvoy has done these columns without skipping a deadline. We salute him with 1,500 thanks for keeping Mark Twain's voice alive, thriving and relevant in 2022.

While MAGA Republicans are popping the champagne corks over the imminent reversal of Roe vs. Wade, and the blow it delivers to women’s control over their own bodies, a little reality checking is in order. This is especially true for the many candidates who, if elected, will certainly begin the process of eliminating the protection of women’s reproductive rights currently found in Nevada State Law.

Elmo. Some people don’t need a last name. Elmo was the youngest American to win the highest award for knowing the most about wine back in 1972, yet he was not a wine snob. He lived on the edge of Kapiolani Park in Waikiki and I used pass his patio on my morning runs.

This Thursday, our Board of Supervisors will hear the first reading of a municipal ordinance that will drastically change the ability of citizens to voice their opposition to decisions made by the planning commission. Currently, our code allows any "aggrieved party" to appeal decisions made by the Planning Director, the Planning Commission, the Historical Commission, and the Growth Management Commission, to our elected Board of Supervisors.

We have long known that exercise reduces anxiety, and now we are finding out why. Dr. Jennifer Heisz has been studying how a modest amount of exercise can help protect us from depression, anxiety, and various other mental health challenges. Turns out, it’s all thanks to neuropeptide Y, which is the pacifier that increases its flow during exercise and washes away stress like a hot shower.

Taking stock of 2022, rom someone who lives for the most part in the 19th century, “Man is good, woman, even better.” Now should they disagree, he might end an argument with a definitive, “But Honey, that’s not in the Constitution!” And she might end the same argument with the last word, “But Honey, remember too, that we are endowed with certain unalienable rights, and among them just happens to be the pursuit of happiness!”

At any given moment in time you can pull up youth fighting and assaults on you tube. Even more disturbing, one can now see it on our local news. It seems like it's happening daily anymore. It is not uncommon to see a cell phone video, or security camera showing teens fighting in a high school.

There’s a loose cannon out there who thinks as little of his fellow man as his fellow man thinks of him. Oh, and by the way, did we mention, he happens to have 6,257 nuclear weapons within reach of his fingertips, about 30 for every country in the world, were he to choose to distribute them fairly, a thing not likely to happen.

Letter from a human being to an essential McDonalds Worker:
I apologize for this letter being soaked and illegible but it is soaked in the tears of every dead American and every living species on the planet that we call home. I apologize that I cannot give you more than what you receive from me today as this is the rest of what I have after my budget for the month as I am a disabled veteran and live on a limited income.

One year ago, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This legislation, the American Hospital Association points out, helps hospitals and health systems provide care to their patients and communities. It increases access to health coverage for people who are uninsured or have lost their insurance.

It makes critical investments in Covid vaccines, treatment, testing, contact tracing, personal protective equipment, and workforce development. It has helped save jobs in the hospital field by expanding eligibility and providing more resources for the Paycheck Protection Program.

On Friday, April 1st 2022 a group of concerned residents gathered on the steps of the Attorney General Building across from the State Capitol for the purpose of filing complaints against two of Carson City School Board members, Laurel Crossman and Michael (Mike) Walker. This group is part of a growing number of parents, grandparents and other community members who are openly and vocally defending children’s health, educational well being and their future.

The world is going to the dogs and that’s a good thing. There are more dogs in San Francisco today than people. Emperor Norton himself had two dogs, Lazarus and Bummer.

There are only a handful of counties in America with only one township, and Nevada’s Churchill County is one of them. So I was honored to be invited to speak as Mark Twain at this year’s Lincoln Day Dinner at the Fallon Convention Center, hosted by the Churchill County Republican Central Committee.

Jimmy was a friend of mine. He was blind, but often saw more than I did. He was nine when he walked up to my lifeguard stand, introduced himself, and asked me to teach him how to swim. I taught him how to swim and he taught me how to see.

As Mark Twain tells us, “It’s the little things that smoothes people’s roads out the most.” And so it happened back in 1966 on a hellish afternoon in a Vietnam village, that a Montagnard woman handed a Marine a cube of ice.

On February 24, 2022, I grumbled because I had to pay $3.659/per gallon to fill my fuel tank in my pickup, then on March 2nd, I was even more disgusted at having to pay $3.749/per gallon to top fill up again. Now today, March 4th, - just 2 days later - I am angry that the price of fuel has jumped more to more than $4.799 for fuel.

Army Ants know all about aggression. They think they invented aggression, and they will do it all day long for the queen. Sound familiar? Here’s how they wage their wars; first they bivouac, that is to say, they build a living nest with their bodies within a tree trunk or hole in the ground. Don’t ask me how they do that. Once they are organized into a big ball, the soldier ants, those with the big mandibles, patrol the surface of the bivouac and fight off aggressors.

Should censorship of Nevadas possible gubernatorial candidates be allowed? If one believes in our democracy then the answer is a clear NO. The beauty of our voting system is WE THE PEOPLE have the opportunity to hear out potential candidates, and thier positions before we choose who we want to represent us in the primaries later this year.

In Russia’s managed democracy of this 21st century, sometimes, though not often, an underdog candidate will actually win an election. It’s rare as hens’ teeth, but it happened a couple years ago in the tiny village of Povalikhino.

The two finalists for the Superintendent hire will be interviewed by the School Board on February 22nd at 8:15am. Robert Crowell Board Room, Community Center, 851 E William Street, Carson City.

We have long known that fish can navigate. Who among us has not visited Taylor Creek and stood in awe while witnessing the amazing annual salmon run? But can a fish navigate on land, drive a car? Come to find out, the answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

Fear of war begets war as both sides arm-up to pre-empt an attack by the other, and so we find ourselves today fearing yet another self-imposed escalation. With thousands of troops stationed on Ukraine’s border, Russia is telling Ukraine, “If you continue to court NATO we will take whatever action necessary to stop the expansion of NATO.

With the Olympic Games upon us, I feel compelled to confess, in full, to a lapse of moral judgement that long ago cost yours truly an Olympic berth. This true confession comes with a caveat to young athletes who aspire to compete in the Games, “Don’t do as I did."

Dear parents, grandparents and concerned residents,

Carson City School Board Trustees will be deciding on the top 1 or 2 candidates to be interviewed on February 22, 2022 and February 23, 2022, if needed, to fill the Carson City School Superintendent vacancy.

This meeting will be held at the Robert Crowell Board Room, Community Center, 851 E William Street, at 5:30pm on February 2nd, 2022.

The Slaughterhouse issue goes before the Board of Supervisors (BOS) on Thursday, February 3, at 5pm.
The “Downtown 2020 Group”, the City, and other Organizations have worked hard to improve our downtown corridor to recruit businesses, tourism and make it a gathering place for our locals.

This is an open letter to Governor Sisolak, the Board of Prison Commissioners, the Director Nevada Department of Corrections and the general public of Nevada.